Govt seeks a day to respond as protests in India rage on

Leaders of India’s youth-led “cockroach” movement said yesterday that the government has sought time until this afternoon to respond on their demand for the education minister’s resignation over exam paper leaks, following talks between the two sides.

The talks came hours after activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 26-day hunger strike, raising hopes that the two sides could reach a breakthrough after tens of thousands of angry youths converged in the ​capital Delhi this week to demand the minister’s resignation.

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Yesterday’s talks were held between senior federal ministers J P Nadda and Jitendra Singh on one side, and Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, spokespersons of the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) youth movement, on the other.

The CJP leaders said they had conveyed that nothing would be acceptable to them without Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation, and warned that without this, protests would spread.

“The government has asked for time until tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon to respond on this point (the resignation),” Ranka told reporters. “We hope the government will dismiss Dharmendra Pradhan at the earliest, or that he will resign, so that we can bring this matter to a conclusion.”

Minister Nadda said the talks were cordial.

“They had three main demands. We have told them we will meet you tomorrow [Saturday] afternoon and discuss the demands,” he said.

Besides the resignation of Pradhan, CJP wants police cases filed against protesters dropped, and compensation paid to families of more than a dozen students who local media reported took their own lives after the exam paper leak in May.

Although the protesters agreed to hold talks, they had also called for nationwide demonstrations yesterday over alleged police brutality against protesters who marched on parliament on Monday.

While thousands of protesters continued to gather at the main protest site of Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, there were reports of scattered protests across the country, reports Reuters.

Students, youth activists and opposition supporters staged protests in the states of West Bengal, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, holding placards demanding Pradhan’s resignation and boycotting classes in some places, local media reported.

The Union cabinet yesterday approved amendments to the Prevention of Paper Leak law, proposing tougher penalties for those involved in examination paper leaks, reports TOI online.

Parliament was disrupted and suspended again as opposition lawmakers also demanded Pradhan’s resignation, with no business conducted for the entire week.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corp shut down 17 stations in and around central Delhi yesterday, the third time this week it resorted to such a large-scale closure of the system which is the lifeline of the capital.

The government extended a mobile internet shutdown in the area until midnight, two industry sources told Reuters.